Machine for cutting solder for jewelers  use



(No Model.)

S. F. MERRITT.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING SOLDER FOR JB WELERS USE. No. 394,201.

Patented Dec. 11 1888.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL F. MERRITT, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING SOLDER FOR JEWELERS USE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,201, dated December 11, 1888.

Application filed October 6, 1888- Serial No. 287,415. (Ho model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL F. MERRITT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Cutting Solder for Jewelers Use, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines of improved construction to be used for converting ribbons or fiat bands of solder into a multiplicity of minute rectangular bits or plates requisite or convenient for use by jewelers and other mechanicians; and the invention consists in the construction and combination of the various parts, all substantially as will hereinafter more fully appear, and be set forth in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accolnpanyiii g drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine, partly broken away in vertical section for better illustration. Fig. 2 is a partial vertical section of the machine on line 2 2, Fig. 1, and a partial front elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of a portion of the machine from front to rear thereof, or on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4. is a detail cross-sectional view on line 4 4, Fig. 3, of the front solderstrip guiding-tube. Fig. 5 is a view of the end portion of a solder-strip scored or severed in parallel longitudinal lines as a result of the operation thereon by a portion of the mechanism comprised in the present improved machine; and Fig. 6 represents a number of minute rectangular divisional plates of solder of a desired form for jewelers use as finally produced by the machine. Fig. 7 is a detail horizontal section on line 7 7, Fig. 3.

This machine comprises a mechanism, first, for longitudinally scoring or severing a flat strip or ribbon of solder and, secondly, for transversely severing from the ends of the several longitudinally-divided strips suitable sections or lengths thereof.

The mechanism for longitudinally scoring the strip consists of a pair of rolls, A and B, each of which has its periphery formed With circular concentric ribs a, having right-angled or sharply-defined edges, and the rolls are arranged in bearings of suitable standards, 8, so that the ribs of one roll will project into the relatively intermediate circular grooves, b, of the other roll, (see Fig. 2,) the peripheries of the ribs and grooves, however, being separated enough to accommodate the thickness of the solder-strip. The said scoringrolls A B are rotated in reverse directions, so that on the end of a solder-strip being introduced between their peripheries the same will be fed by and through said rollers and will be severed and divided in longitudinal lines into strips having width corresponding to the widths of said ribs. In Fig. 2 the black shading indicated at 9 represents cross-sections of the said longitudinally-divided strips which have been severed the one from the other under the shearing action of the ribbed rolls one upon the other.

A flat tube, 10, is supported at the front of the machine for properly guiding the solderstrip to the action of the scoring-rolls, and at the rear of said rolls another similar tube, 12, is disposed for properly guiding the scored strip to the action of what may be termed the cutting-off mechanism, the bottom of said tube being of considerable strength and rigidity, to serve as a firm rest for the solder at the time of its being transversely severed, and, as seen, is provided at its lower side with an aperture, 13, having a length at least as great as the combined width of the longitudinally-divided strips of solder and a width as great as or greater than the length desired for the small rectangular solder-plates to be produced, the upper side of the tube being cut away, as seen at g in Fig. 3, at a line above the forward boundary of said aperture 13 and to the rear thereof. As seen in Fig. 7, the ends of the top and bottom walls of said tube 12 are serrated, as at m, to closelyfit the grooves and ribs a b of the rolls, to constrain the scored strips to be fed within the tube and precluding the possibility of their following the periphery of the roll-ribs and grooves, respectively, upward and downward around said rolls, as would likely occurin the absence of such closely-fitting guide portions.

The cutting-cit mechanism consists of a vertically-reciprocating plunger or chisel, C,

having a lower end of a width and length corresponding with that of said aperture 13, and guided in suitable vertical dovetail ways in a head, 14, at the upper end of the standard of the machine, said reciprocating movement being imparted to said plunger by the suitable engagement therewith of an eccentric, 16,

. edge of said ratchet-wheel engages a springpawl, 22, which is carried on the one end of a swinging lever, 23, said lever by its opposite;

end being pivoted to a fixed support, 24. The lower end of a thrust-rod, 25, is pivot-ally engaged with the intermediate portion of said swinging lever, and at its upper end it is provided with a pair of adjustable collars, 26 26,

adapted by set-screws to be confined on the said rod at any desired point and at any desired distance apart, and between said collars 26 26 extends the end portion of a rearwardlyprojected arm, 28, which is secured on and moves in conjunction with the plunger 0. It will beplain that with the said collars 011 the thrust-rod set so as to be both in contact with said arm 28 the thrust-rod will have a vertical and reciprocating movement equal to the throw of the plunger, and on the downward movement of said plunger the thrust rod will then force the swinging lever and the spring-pawl down a certain distance to enable said pawl to engage the third, fourth, or fifth ratchet-tooth below, as the case may be, under the relative arrangement of the parts, and on the upward movement of the plunger the pawl will be carried upwardly and the ratchet-wheel rotated, securin a corresponding rotation of the rolls A B. \Vhen desired to secure a less degree of rotation of said rolls at each throw of the plunger, by adjusting the collars so that they are at a distance of separation greater than the width of the arm 28 during a portion of the movement of the plunger in either direction there will be no consequent effect upon the thrustrod, but there will be finally secured a movement of said thrust-rod corresponding to only a portion of the reciprocation of the plunger, and the pawl will traverse the distance of a less number of the ratchet-teeth at each rotation of the main shaft, and, as will be clearly understood, un-

I the rectangular plates of solder may be square,

der the desired adjustment of the collars at each cutting-01f by the plunger the strip may be fed forward any required distance, so that or may have greater or less lengths relative to the width thereof, as desired.

On introducing the flat strip of solder at the front of the rolls the same is carried thereby through them and longitudinally scored and presented by the forward end over the aperture 13 in the base of rear tube, 12, and the descending plunger cuts the end portions of the strips intothe desired sections or lengths, the same falling through the said aperture 13 and upon the base of the machine, or into a box suitably located to receive the minute plates or sections of solder. 7

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1, The combination, with the rolls A B, having the interlocking ribs and grooves, of the reciprocating cutting-off plunger at the rear of said rolls, and a plate having an opening for the passage of said plunger therethrough, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the rolls A B, hav

ing the interlocking ribs and grooves and provided with the gears 19 1!) and the ratchetwheel 20 on one of said rolls, of the apertured plate at the rear of said rolls, the verticallyguided reciprocating plunger, the swinging lever 23, and the spring-pawl 22 thereon for engaging said ratchet-wheel, an d a connection between said plunger and said swinging lever, whereby the reciprocating movement may be imparted from said plunger to said swinging lever, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the rolls A B, having the interlocking ribs and grooves and provided with the gears 19 19 and the ratchetwheel 20 on one of said rolls, the flat guiding tube 10, leadin to the front of said rolls, and the guide-tube at the rear of said rolls having in its bottom the aperture 13 and the partially-open top, of the vertically-guided reciprocating plunger 0, having the fixed arm 28 thereon, the swinging lever 23, and springpawl 22 thereon for engaging said ratchetwheel, the thrust-rod 25, connected by one end to said swinging lever and provided at its upper end with the adjustable collars 26 26, for engaging said fixed arm 28, all substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. In a solder-cutting machine, the rolls A B, having the interlocking ribs and grooves, and the guide-tube 12 at the rear thereof,having its walls adjacent to said rolls provided with the serrations m substantially as and for the purpose described.

SAMUEL F. MERRITT.

lVitnesses:

WM. S. BELLOVVS, G; M. CHA BERLAIN. 

